“One day, Jeremy, you’re going to say the wrong fucking thing and I’m going to lose it,” he had said. But that was it. We didn’t talk about it again until I pulled him aside at the graduation ceremony two days ago.
Preparing Grady for Chey’s return to Fort Bragg hasn’t been easy. First I had to get the whole proposal thing out there for him. Then I mentioned bringing her stuff to my place. That one almost got me decapitated, but eventually he mumbled something about a pool table and moving the kids’ rooms around. I didn’t really follow it, but the following week, her bedroom was cleared out of anything Holly and Elle thought she might want to have around her new home. I drew the line at the shitty girly posters of half-naked actors she professes to like “because of their talent and not their appearance.” Either way, those fucking assholes don’t get to come to the house with us.
As we descend upon Fort Bragg, her grip relaxes some. My stomach muscles have gotten a serious workout this ride—and it was a long fucking ride—but the strain feels good. I haven’t worked out the way Duke and I used to lately. Been too busy getting shit fixed up for my girl to come home. Haven’t shaved properly in a while, but she’s expressed interest in my budding goatee.
I veer off Main Street and head down Sherwood Road in the wrong direction of her dad’s house. She notices immediately and pipes up, but I ignore her. Before we get to Ruby’s long-ass driveway, I slow the bike and cut down a small service road that separates her from her neighbors and turn toward the family cabin. Ian lived here for several years before moving out for a bigger place and offering it up to me and Chey. He’d reasoned that we’d be better company for his mother than he ever was. The only other people to live in the cabin besides Ian and Mindy were Rage and Sylvia before she passed and he retired to Nevada.
“What are we doing out here?” she asks as I bring the bike to a stop in front of the small cabin. This place hasn’t always held happy memories for her, but I’m determined to turn that around. Cutting off the bike and pushing down her kickstand, I pat her thigh for her to get up. She responds and climbs off, then steps back to give me room to swing my leg over. Once I’m on the dirt, I take her hand and lead her to the front steps. She’s acting funny, just like she’s been for months now. It’s my own fault, really. But I want her to have this, so I’ll deal with it for now.
“That’s not what you want to say, and we both know it,” I say. “Go on.”
“Well, you’re an asshole. You barely answer my calls anymore, you go MIA for hours on end, and nobody can tell me where you’ve been. You want me to pick up where we left off like nothing’s fucking wrong, but guess what, buddy? Something is wrong. I feel like you’re hiding something from me, and I’ll overturn every rock in this damn county to find it.”
“That’s because I am hiding something from you,” I admit, feeling rather proud of myself. She does this, sticking her foot so far down her throat she ends up offering to suck my dick on the regular after she realizes she’s been an asshole. My girl’s a little bitchy and a lot paranoid, but she’s mine, and if she didn’t prove that she’s Forsaken-level difficult once in a while, I’d worry I picked the wrong chick.
I pause, waiting for her to start bitching, but she doesn’t. She does narrow her eyes, though, and shake her head. “I’m not going to lay into you like I want to, because I have a feeling you’re setting me up to make me into an asshole.”
“And why would I do that?”
“You like getting your dick sucked,” she says. I try to tell her that she enjoys it as much as I do, but she shoots that idea down pretty quick. “No woman likes sucking dick as much as a man enjoys it, and if they say they are, they’re goddamn liars.”
“Speaking of sucking dick,” I say, trailing off and placing a kiss to the shell of her ear.
She shakes her head and pushes on my chest. “Nuh-uh.”
“Fine, I’ll just have to give you your real gift.” I lead her up the steps to the front door. Pulling out a set of keys, I hand them to her and step back. A sheepish grin appears on her face as she draws her bottom lip into her mouth. Swiftly, she gets the door open and steps inside with a gasp.